Student Blogs

By Kimberly Salazar 

Studying can be challenging when you have a full-time job or have a busy life as a nursing student. It may even be discouraging, or you may experience burnout just thinking about how to manage your study time throughout your busy day. 

It is a recurring issue that I have seen among my peers and myself during the first year of nursing school. I want to reassure you that there is a way to implement study time or educational learning in your busy and tight schedule. Here are some tips and resources that I would like to share to hopefully help ease the stress and worries created by our busy lives. 

1. Podcasts 

One practical way to learn about topics is by listening to recorded podcasts by other nursing students or nurses. Podcasts allow you to stay hands-free and roam about your day while also learning topics through your headphones. For example, you can listen to podcasts while driving, cooking dinner, cleaning your house, or getting your kids ready for school. Some podcast topics include specific diseases, nurse process thinking, pharmacology, and lifestyle. 
Some of the podcasts I listen to are Straight A Nursing, The Simple Nursing Podcast, and Nursing School Week by Week.

2. Recorded Audio Lectures 

Audio lectures present the same benefits as podcasts; you can stay hands-free while learning about different topics. In addition, these recorded lectures help refresh your memory and help you better understand issues that you might have trouble understanding. Your professor sometimes uploads the recorded lectures, or you can record them (with their permission) during class, which you may listen to again afterward. 

Helpful apps for voice recording: Voice Memos, Speech Notes, Google Assistant

3. Audio Textbook Reading 

Many of the e-books that our school provides for us or that we have bought have the option to  “read aloud” or the “text-to-speech” capability. You can have the text read to you like an audiobook, starting and stopping anywhere you may like. This way, you can continue to go about your day while listening to your textbook chapters. 

Recommended textbook with audio reading: Saunders NCLEX-PN Exam Comprehensive Review

4. YouTube 

Lastly, YouTube is an excellent resource for those with busy schedules. Not only can you pop up a video lecture to watch while washing dishes or during your lunch break, but it also has the option to listen to a video like a song. So you can choose your video/lecture, pop those earphones in, lock your phone, and put it away in your back pocket as you go about your day. 

Recommended YouTube channels for Nursing Students: Simple Nursing, Registered Nurse RN, Picmonic, Osmosis 

I hope these tips and resources are helpful to you as you study to become a nurse. Also, remember to be nice to yourself and take breaks as needed! Good mental and physical health is important as you go through nursing school.  

You got this!